


most things aren't perfect (but with you, it gets pretty close)

by mintkey



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Domestic Christmas Fluff, Multi, That's it, rated for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 17:46:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17146256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintkey/pseuds/mintkey
Summary: It's Jaemin, Jeno and Renjun's first Christmas living together and maybe they should've planned a few things better.





	most things aren't perfect (but with you, it gets pretty close)

It was November 28th, precisely at seven forty-eight in the evening when Jaemin kicked the front door open and, with Jisung’s and Chenle’s help, pushed the biggest Christmas tree Renjun had ever seen into their living room. He remembers it because he was on the phone with his parents, and they had just landed at California, on the second week of their two months long trip to the US, and asked what time it was over in Korea. They didn’t even get an answer – as soon as Renjun’s eyes fell on the monstrous tree, he hung up the call with the sole purpose of using his phone as a weapon to hit Jaemin in the shoulder.

“This is domestic abuse,” Jaemin accused half-heartedly, as he always did whenever something like this would happen.

“Na Jaemin, what the fuck are you thinking?” Renjun demanded, hands on his hips, paying no mind to his boyfriend’s shenanigans.

“No swearing in front of the children, baby.” He pinched Renjun’s cheek and later, when telling the story to the rest of their friend group, the two high schoolers could swear they saw Renjun’s eyes glisten with anger.

“Chenle, Jisung, out,” he all but growled, eyes still glued to Jaemin’s.

“But Jaemin-hyung promised us cookies if we helped,” protested Jisung, but one look from his hyung was enough to get both him and Chenle outside of the apartment in a second. Not that they wouldn’t eavesdrop on everything, of course.

Once the door closed, Jaemin was quick to lean in for a kiss, almost quick enough that Renjun wouldn’t be able to stop him with a finger to his lips. Almost.

“Explain, and then maybe you get a kiss.”

It took Jaemin a fair share of whining before he finally decided to answer, his hands resting on the small of Renjun’s back as he pecked his cheek instead. Sometimes it seemed like the pink-haired boy needed skinship to survive. Renjun wouldn’t be surprised if that was true.

“It’s our first Christmas together. I want it to be big!” Each sentence was followed by another peck, on his forehead and then on his nose, and maybe that soothed Renjun’s anger a little. Not that he’d ever let Jaemin know.

“Does it really have to be so big it takes up half of our living room?” He had one eyebrow up, and Jaemin kissed the spot right above it too.

“It was Chenle’s idea.” A kiss on his shoulder. “He thought obnoxious decorations would cheer Jeno up.” And another on the curve of his neck.

“Will you _stop_ doing that,” he pulled Jaemin’s face back up, keeping his hand firm on the taller one’s jaw. “Fine. I’ll let this go. For Jeno.”

“For Jeno,” Jaemin agreed, a smirk forming on his lips right after. “My kiss?”

Renjun rolled his eyes, but complied anyways. They were still in the middle of it when the door opened again to reveal their boyfriend, Chenle and Jisung right behind him.

“Can anyone tell me why these two were waiting outs– whoa, what _is_ that?” His eyes widened as he noticed the tree, and Jaemin smiled against Renjun’s lips.

“Welcome home, honey! Can you help me put our Christmas tree on that corner? Renjun and his noodle arms are useless.”

Jeno nodded, still looking bewildered at the giant thing, and Renjun huffed. Chenle was about to open his mouth when he cut him off.

“Come with me, I’ll get you your cookies.”

🎄

Two weeks later, and Jeno was finally learning to walk around their apartment without hitting some part of his body against their tree. It was still bare, the three of them too busy with their finals to go out and buy decorations, so it looked more as if their living room was in the middle of a forest than a Christmas tree per se, but he didn’t mind. It was the thought that counted, right?

“Jeno, is that you?” Renjun called out from what was probably their bedroom, and then Jeno heard a solid _thump_ against the ground. Soon his head poked out of the door, blond hair a little wet and sticking out on all directions. “Oh, great, can you give me a hand over here?”

“Sure, what is it?” He dropped the groceries he’d just bought on the dining table and followed Renjun inside.

He was met with a string of fairy lights hanging from most of the walls, with the exception of the one Renjun wouldn’t be able to reach just from standing on their bed like he was right then.

“Hang those over there, please?” He handed Jeno the remaining part of the string, and Jeno noticed the lights were shaped like little stars.

After he was done, Renjun turned the lights off and let the stars shine, in white, blue and purple – which didn’t exactly scream Christmas, but Jeno wasn’t about to tell him that. They looked pretty anyway, maybe not as much as Renjun did with a satisfied smile on his lips and patches of light giving a nice colorful touch to his hair and the pink crop top he was wearing, but enough.

He pushed Renjun against his chest and wrapped his arms around him, leaving a kiss on the spot behind his ear before resting his chin against his shoulder.

“It looks great,” he whispered, and Renjun turned around to murmur a _thank you_ and kiss him on the lips.

“Honey, baby, I’m home!” Jaemin sing-songed from the door and they both laughed.

When they first moved in together, pet names proved to be quite a confusing thing. Jaemin would call “love” and both Renjun and Jeno would answer. One time Renjun asked “baby” to turn off the stove and it almost caused a fire, because Jeno thought he meant Jaemin and vice-versa. So to avoid situations like that, they came up with a very simple system. 

Renjun was _baby_ , which was ironic since he’s also the oldest, but Jaemin insisted on it, saying it fit him better out of the three of them. Jaemin got _sweetheart_ , because “my heart _is_ very sweet so it seems fair.” It was also his favorite pet name, so the other two didn’t argue about it. Lastly, Renjun chose _honey_ for Jeno, no explanation given, and they just went along with it.

Calling each other that was a habit now, just like the way Jaemin always greeted them when he came back from work and what they always said in response.

“Hi, sweetheart, I missed you,” they both replied in unison, and they didn’t have to see him to know he had a big grin on his face.

🎁

Maybe splitting up to look for decorations wasn’t the best idea, ‘cause now they had three carts filled to the brim with all kinds of unmatched things and they couldn’t possibly afford all of it.

“I think we should go with Jeno’s,” Jaemin suggests after sharing a look with Renjun.

“Yeah, I like the ones he picked too.”

But instead of the grin they were expecting, their boyfriend looked annoyed, arms crossed and (even if he won’t admit it) a pout on his lips.

“Quit doing that,” he said, and the look Jaemin and Renjun traded now was a confused one.

“Doing what?” Renjun voiced, and Jeno just sighed, shifting his weight from one leg to the other.

“Treating me like a disaster victim,” he explained. “Doing everything as I say and looking at me with pity when you think I’m not paying attention. I hate that.”

Thinking about it now, Renjun realizes it’s true. He and Jaemin had been acting differently around Jeno ever since the disastrous lunch at his parents’ house when he introduced his boyfriends and came out in the process, a little over a month prior. They didn’t take it lightly, to say the least, and after what felt like years of screaming, Jeno suddenly wasn’t allowed to come back there unless he _fixed himself_.

That took more of a toll on his boyfriends than it did on him – he was sort of expecting it to happen, after all. His parents were always too close-minded; it would’ve been a real miracle if they managed to wrap their head around the fact that their son was dating not only one, but two boys at once that quickly. It wasn’t a big deal. But Jaemin and Renjun, with sweet, understanding families, took it upon themselves to do everything on their reach to make him feel better. Which was nice at first, sure, but after a month of it Jeno had had enough. He just wanted things to go back to normal already.

“I’m so sorry,” Jaemin was the first to say, abandoning his cart to go give Jeno a tight hug, Renjun following right after.

“We just wanted to cheer you up, Nono,” Renjun explained, lifting his head from Jeno’s chest to look at him properly.

Jeno kissed the tip of his nose and ruffed his hair. “I know. But I don’t need cheering up. I’m fine.”

“I’m glad this happened. I really didn’t like the decorations you picked,” Jaemin confessed after a few seconds of heavy silence, and suddenly the air felt light again as they laughed together.

“Why don’t we take a few things from each cart and mix them all together?”

“Baby, that’s gonna look awful.”

“No one will notice, that damn tree draws all the attention to it anyway.”

“I mean, he has a point.”

“Fine. But if it looks bad, I called it.”

📦

Jeno hung the last one of the metallic balls on the highest branch of the tree and took several steps back to admire his work. It looked a little messy, the little angels and candy canes not quite matching the red, green and golden ornaments, but once he put on the Christmas lights and sprayed enough fake snow on it, no one would notice.

“What do you think, Junnie?”

Renjun, who was carefully stacking the presents they bought near the window, as part of their decoration, looked up and winced.

“It could be worse?” he offered, and Jeno couldn’t help but cackle.

“I guess it could.” He reached for the only box that remained closed, the one containing the shiny silver star Renjun had fallen in love with at first sight. “Wanna put the star on the top?”

At that, he quickly got up, the excited look on his face making Jeno’s heart do a somersault in his chest.

Jaemin, who had been in the kitchen sticking the last of the many faux mistletoes he’d insisted on buying to the ceiling, leaned against the doorstep, watching fondly as the blond climbed up Jeno’s shoulders and reached for the top of the tree.

“Stop right there, the both of you,” he commanded, voice as serious as he could make it, as he marched on their direction.

The two just blinked at his direction, not understanding what was going on – well, until Jaemin stopped in front of them, arms crossed against his chest, and pointed up. Right above them, was yet another mistletoe. “You owe me a kiss.”

In hindsight, maybe he should’ve waited until Renjun was safe and steady on the ground to do this. Because when he pulled Renjun down to kiss him, right after Jeno had his turn, Jeno lost his balance. Jaemin screamed and jumped back while Jeno tried his best to keep his ground, but, in the end, Renjun still got sent headfirst into the stupid tree, knocking it down in the process.

The sound of it hitting the ground was almost deafening, the trunk making a loud thump and the metallic decorations getting either crashed or scattered around the living room. One of them rolled until it reached the front door, Jaemin and Jeno staring at it in shock until it stopped. Then, silence.

“Well, shit,” Renjun said, sitting up in the middle of the branches, silver star still held tightly against his chest.

They looked at him for a second, taking in the uneven glasses, the pine cones stuck to his hair, the ornament in his hands. And all at once, they started laughing like they’d never laughed before, until they ran out of breath and their stomachs started hurting. Every time they thought it was over, they’d look at the disaster that became their apartment and it would start all over again.

Forty minutes went by until they were able to start cleaning up without a new fit of giggles, and just then, the doorbell rang.

“That must be Duckie and the boys,” Jaemin stated as he went to open the door for their guests.

They didn’t even get a chance to get in before Donghyuck stared at the fallen tree with their mouth hanging open, hands immediately falling from where they were probably tucking the shirt into their skirt, judging by the way it was sticking out.

“What the hell happened in here,” they asked, dumbfounded.

The three boyfriends shared a look, and then started laughing all over again.

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you enjoyed this little gift, and if you did, come talk to me about it on [twitter](http://twitter.com/moonttael)!


End file.
